Search continues for Cruise Ship Passenger Lincey O’Brien
The search continues for the Dublin teenager Lincey O’Brien who is said to have fell off of a cruise ship near Isla Mujeres, a Caribbean island near Cancun.
The Costa Magica cruise ship was 26 miles away from the island in the pre-dawn hours Thursday when the teen fell into the Caribbean, according to the ship’s captain, Guisseppo Russo.
Russo identified the victim as Lincey O’Brien and did not divulge her hometown. Newspapers in the missing teen’s native Ireland spelled her first name Lynsey, however, and reported she was from Dublin.
Rough sea conditions had slowed the search, said Genaro Medina, a federal official at the office of the port captain on Isla Mujeres. While air rescue efforts continued via Mexican coast guard helicopters, officials were no longer optimistic about finding the victim alive.
“It’s really difficult (to believe) the young woman is alive,” Medina said. “The impact could have caused an instantaneous death since the distance between the railing from where she fell and the water is 30 to 40 meters.”
A spokesman for Carnival confirmed that a passenger had gone overboard, but referred calls for further comment to Costa Cruises in Hollywood, Florida, where no one could immediately be reached for comment.
(CNN)